December is not historically a great time to query agents. Much like the rest of us, agents are swamped with end of year business, holiday stress, goal setting for the new year, and catching up on their query inbox. Many agents will go ahead and close their inbox to queries, taking the guesswork out of it for the querying writer.
Can you query in December? Sure. Have writers been signed in December? Probably so. But, if most agents aren’t focused on new submissions, why risk ending up on the bottom of another slush pile?
What should a querying writer do?
Take your own break!
Rejection is no fun, why layer that on top of your holiday? Take a break and enjoy the season. Read a good book or watch your favorite holiday movie. Grab your favorite holiday drink and check out some festive lights. Pretend your shopping for your family at the bookstore, but really you’re stocking up on books to get you through the winter hygge season (just me?). Do something that feeds your story soul.
In addition to a well deserved break from the waiting game that is querying, you can also use this time to see what’s been working, or maybe what isn’t working, in your query process.
3 Quick Steps to Breaking Down Your Query Feedback:
1 – Assess
Make a spreadsheet or simply tally up responses on a legal pad. Note whether you are getting form rejections, partial/full requests that go nowhere, or personalized rejections.
2 – Analyze
Form rejections mean you may have an issue with your query letter—it’s not grabbing the reader right away. You may also be pitching the wrong type of agent. This is a good time to also ensure you have labeled your manuscript with the correct genre and that it meets genre expectations for things like word count.
Rejections on partial or full requests mean you may have a problem with your pages. Your query drew them in but something didn’t deliver on the page. This doesn’t mean the writing is poor, but it does mean something may not be working in your manuscript. First off, look at your protagonist. Is it clear in the opening chapters what they want/need, what’s standing in their way, and what is at stake if they don’t get it? Second, check the links between chapters. You want to aim for “because of that” and not “and then” as the link between major scenes to ensure your cause and effect trajectory leading to your ultimate and inevitable climax is strong.
Personalized rejections are harder to analyze because they could say any number of things, but look for patterns. Are all your ultimate rejections mentioning the same thing in your manuscript? Do they praise your writing but pass because the story just “isn’t right” for them? This is a tough one to hear, but doesn’t mean anything more than they don’t think they can sell your story—not that your story can’t be sold, just that they aren’t the best fit. Just like every book in the bookstore isn’t for you. It doesn’t say anything about the book you don’t buy, other than it isn’t something you want to commit several hours of your life to. If the majority of your personalized rejections are in that camp, have a glass of egg nog or cider and get right back in the query trenches in January until you find the agent that loves your story as much as you do!
3 – Revise
Based on what you learned, use this query break to revise your query and/or your pages.
I typically advise writers to query in batches of about ten agents at a time so you can consistently analyze your responses in this way and make any necessary adjustments before blowing through your agent list with a less than stellar query or pages that might need an extra polish. Querying is iterative. You want to learn and grow as a writer and this is simply one more opportunity to do so.
Need some help? I’ve got you! Get feedback on your first chapter with a 1-2 page editorial letter and in-document comments plus a 30-minute coaching call with the Quick Start package. This is a great way to keep your query on track as well as get a taste of my feedback style if you’ve ever been interested in getting the support of a book coach for your writing.
Until then, enjoy your query break then get right back to it in the New Year! Querying is hard work.
And remember: it only takes one YES!
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Featured photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash